{ "id": "epfpmeeyqc", "slug": "hide-and-seek-2013-film", "title": "Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) (2013 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films", "label": "2010–2014 films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l", "label": "Titles symbols to L", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) is Huh Jung's 2013 South Korean debut thriller about squatters secretly living in others' homes, marked by doorbell symbols; Son Hyun-joo stars; 5.6 million admissions, Korean Association of Film Critics Best New Director.", "snippet": "Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) is Huh Jung's 2013 South Korean debut thriller about squatters secretly living in others' homes, marked by doorbell symbols; Son Hyun-joo stars; 5.6 million admissions, Korean Association of Film Critics Best New Director.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l", "markdown": "# Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) (2013 film)\n\n**Hide and Seek** (숨바꼭질) is a 2013 South Korean thriller, 107 minutes long and rated 15, directed by Huh Jung in his feature debut, about strangers who secretly live inside other people's apartments and mark the doorbells with symbols recording their gender and number.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) Produced by Studio Dreamcapture and released on August 14, 2013, it sold more than 5.6 million tickets in South Korea, a commercial result far above its small budget.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/films/hide-and-seek/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Native title / director | 숨바꼭질, directed by 허정 (Huh Jung), his debut feature[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) |\n| Release | August 14, 2013, rated 15세관람가, 107 minutes, produced by (주)드림캡쳐 (Studio Dreamcapture)[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) |\n| Box office | 5,604,106 admissions on 779 screens, grossing $27,978,096[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) |\n| Principal cast | Son Hyun-joo (Sung-soo), Jeon Mi-seon (Min-ji), Moon Jung-hee (Joo-hee), Kim Won-hae (Sung-chul), Jung Joon-won (Ho-se)[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) |\n| Central premise | Mysterious doorbell symbols denote the gender and number of people secretly living in a home[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100) |\n| Inspiration | Screenplay loosely based on real events; doorbell symbols and home-squatting taken from news headlines[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) |\n| Awards | Best New Director at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards (2013); Blue Dragon nominations for Best New Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) • [6](https://filmmovement.com/product/hide-and-seek) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe protagonist Sung-soo, a cafe owner who suffers from insomnia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, investigates the apartment of his half-brother after the man goes missing.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) • [7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/) There he finds strange marks drawn beside the doorbell, and decodes the hide-and-seek symbols: each one records the gender and the number of the people secretly living in that home.[5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100) When the same symbols appear under his own doorbell, this time with an ominous bloody V, the story turns into a conflict between Sung-soo, who tries to protect his family, and Joo-hee, a woman living in the apartment who becomes a threat to his family.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100) • [11](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?category=ALL&mode=INDEX_FILMS_LIST&movieCd=20136049&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&peopleCd=&s_genre=ALL&searchKeyword=hide+and+seek&searchType=ALL&strMenuId=010401&userId=) The missing half-brother Sung-chul is a convicted sex offender, which raises the stakes of the search.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/)\n\n### Cast and characters\n\nSon Hyun-joo plays Baek Sung-soo, the mysophobic cafe owner drawn into the mystery; Jeon Mi-seon plays his wife Min-ji; Moon Jung-hee plays Joo-hee, a twitchy housewife; Kim Won-hae plays Sung-chul; and Jung Joon-won plays Ho-se.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/) Supporting players listed in the Korean Film Archive record include Lee Do-yeon (Hee-jin), Jo Han-chul (Jung-nam), and Jo Shi-nae (Jung-nam-yeo).[8](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00072013) Jung Kyung-ho does not appear in the cast lists of the official Korean databases.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837)\n\n## Production and inspiration\n\nHide and Seek was Huh Jung's directorial debut. He had earlier won the Special Jury Award for his graduation short film *Joo-hee* and, in 2010, the Best Film Award in the Extreme Nightmare section of the Mise-en-Scene Short Film Festival with *Cursed Period*.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) According to the director, the screenplay was loosely based on real life events: mysterious symbols drawn on doorbells and people who hide in other people's homes were both elements taken from news headlines and embedded into the script.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf)\n\nThe crew included composer Cho Young-wuk, whose credits include *New World*, *The Berlin File*, and *OldBoy*, and production designer Chun Soo-a, who worked on *The Berlin File*, *A Tale of Two Sisters*, and *Seven Days*.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) The film was a Studio Dreamcapture production with international sales by Finecut of Seoul, released domestically by Next Entertainment World.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/)\n\n## Release and box office\n\nThe film opened in South Korea on August 14, 2013 on 779 screens.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) It earned $17.7 million in its first week of a two-month domestic run.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/) Weekly tracking shows 4,078,242 admissions by August 25, 2013, 5,097,933 by September 1, and 5,600,035 by September 22, a trajectory that put most of its total within the first month.[9](https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Hide_and_Seek.php) The Korean Film Council records 5,604,106 total admissions and $27,978,096 in gross; Cine21 lists a slightly lower 5,602,543 admissions.[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100) The London Korean Film Festival described it as a small-budget thriller with huge box-office rewards and the breakout Korean film of 2013.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/films/hide-and-seek/)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\n**International criticism.** Variety praised the film's manipulation of primal fears and its taut action, while criticizing gaping plot holes and illogical behavior throughout the script, and objecting to its depiction of poor people as \"filthy psychos\" in what the reviewer read as a stark allegory of the haves versus the have-nots. The review also suggested remake potential in emerging economies such as China, and praised the editing of Kim Sang-bum and Kim Jae-bum.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/)\n\n**Awards and festivals.** The film won Best New Director for Huh Jung at the 33rd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards (2013), where it was also named one of the Films of the Year.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) It received Blue Dragon Awards nominations for Best New Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, and won Woman in Film of the Year and a Technical Award at the Women in Film Korea Festival; the 34th Golden Cinematography Awards honored Moon Jung-hee and Jeon Mi-seon in 2014.[1](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837) • [6](https://filmmovement.com/product/hide-and-seek) On the festival circuit it competed in the Thriller Competition at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (2014), screened at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and the HIFF Spring Showcase (2014), and showed at the Mauvais Genre Film Festival in France on April 19, 2014.[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3155654/releaseinfo/) It served as the Opening Gala of the London Korean Film Festival.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/films/hide-and-seek/) A German DVD premiere followed on September 26, 2014.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3155654/releaseinfo/)\n\n## Themes and style\n\nDirector Huh Jung framed the film's fear as realistic rather than supernatural: audiences are more afraid of being watched by an unknown entity than of ghosts, and he described this subconscious, realistic fear as rising from our homes.[4](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf) Variety read the story as an allegory of the haves versus the have-nots, while noting something unmistakably reactionary in its portrayal of the poor, and placed it in the lineage of break-in thrillers such as *Pacific Heights* and *The Purge*, mixed with old folk tales about changelings.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/) The premise of strangers covertly occupying a family's domestic space ties the urban paranoia and domestic-security anxiety of the plot directly to the class divide between Sung-soo's comfortable apartment life and the hidden occupants.[7](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100)\n\n## References\n\n1. [KMDb (한국영화데이터베이스): 숨바꼭질](https://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/kor/detail/movie/K/13837)\n2. [Korean Film Council (KOFIC): Hide and Seek (2013)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20136049)\n3. [London Korean Film Festival: Hide & Seek](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/films/hide-and-seek/)\n4. [Film Movement press kit: Hide and Seek](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek_presskit.pdf)\n5. [씨네21: 숨바꼭질 상세정보](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=38100)\n6. [Film Movement: Hide and Seek product page](https://filmmovement.com/product/hide-and-seek)\n7. [Variety review: Hide and Seek (2013)](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/film-review-hide-and-seek-1200728100/)\n8. [한국영상자료원 (KOFA): 숨바꼭질](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00072013)\n9. [HanCinema: Hide and Seek (Korean Movie, 2013, 숨바꼭질)](https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Hide_and_Seek.php)\n10. [Hide and Seek (2013) release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3155654/releaseinfo/)\n11. [Hide and Seek (2013)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?category=ALL&mode=INDEX_FILMS_LIST&movieCd=20136049&pageIndex=1&pageRowSize=10&peopleCd=&s_genre=ALL&searchKeyword=hide+and+seek&searchType=ALL&strMenuId=010401&userId=)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2010–2014 films › Titles symbols to L*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) (2013 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) (2013 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질) (2013 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/hide-and-seek-2013-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Hide and Seek is Huh Jung's 2013 South Korean debut thriller about squatters secretly living in others' homes, marked by doorbell symbols; Son Hyun-joo stars; 5.6 million admissions, Korean Association of Film Critics Best New Director." }